Raja Riding

07/07/2024

Grey horses go to great extremes to be any color other than grey but pooping in her water bucket and then soaking her tail in the green water takes it to a whole new level.

27/05/2024

26/04/2024

16/04/2024

Fire breathing dragon 🐉 in the clouds. Maeve saw it first.

06/04/2024

https://www.facebook.com/share/r/KyJbDryTrp1mEk46/?mibextid=WC7FNe

02/04/2024

02/04/2024

Haflngers are so quiet! Such calm horses... have you met Tara? Someone stuffed a hot thoroughbred in this this little tank-like draft pony body. But don't let that fool you-this little mare is a liberty rockstar and healing hero. She may not yet be the kids horse I hoped for but she's rock solid on helping people heal and brining joy to those she meets.

02/04/2024

Remarkable Grace, or as we call her, simply Grace. She is patient and kind and always aware of the grief people carry. I am thankful for her patience, her grace with new riders and how she cares for those she works with. She is brave and teaches people who cross her path. She is a blessing and I am thankful to share her path.

02/04/2024

Red the not red but amazing equine teacher- this little horse is a marvelous teacher- from partnering with me on equine gestalt coaching to helping a new rider find their balance and confidence he is a master teacher. I am humbled by the horses who help me and their grace to meet people where they are at. And at the same time for me he is an upper level horse who can do walk canter transitions, tempe changes, and work cows. Or help someone learn to ride or help someone learn to find themself. I am blessed to share my life with these amazing horses.

23/03/2024

Give credit where credit is due. 20+ years ago this gentleman changed my parents path with horses and they told me about him and he changed the types of questions I asked my horses and my path as well. It was pretty cool to see him again and have a chance to say thank you! Thank you Pat Parelli!

15/03/2024

So true. Acupuncture, massage and chiropractic help us re-align and reconnect with our own awareness. The book Horse Brain Human Brain has some great awareness exercises for riders as well

Oh, if only things reliably felt as they are...🤔🧐😅

As an instructor I’ve often seen this fun play out, but just as much so as a rider. For me, often the case is that I am *absolutely certain* that I am properly turning my upper body to the right when I am, rather unfortunately, not. 🫣

I was initially incredulous when my instructor hinted that perhaps I was STILL.NOT.TURNING because I most certainly FELT like I was. But of course I eventually realized the truth, and then the even bigger truth that things don’t always feel as they are. Lame.

02/03/2024

This!!!

Ok friends, let’s be real… We’ve all seen some ISO ads lately that would make any true horseman stop in their tracks…

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ISO Unicorn

Absolutely no spook, quirks, vices, maintenance, special needs. 100% safe.
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Thank goodness they are shopping for unicorns and not horses, because a good horseman knows that is absolutely impossible from a horse.

Personally I spooked at a squirrel yesterday, and I have better vision than a horse and am not a prey animal.

No one can guarantee any activity in your life is safe—-not soccer, not baseball, not tennis, nothing. Those are the choices you make and the risks you voluntarily take on to participate in the activity you’ve chosen and to live your life. We all try to make the best choices we can of course, but any seller that promises any facet of your life is guaranteed safe is selling snake oil.

As for the horse’s quirks and special needs? I’ve owned hundreds of horses in my career and worked with many hundreds more. The five best horses of my career were as follows:

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Horse #5. Vices: Cannot pull mane or body clip without heavy sedation. Must be in front when hacking in group. Why it’s worth it: Horse of a lifetime for his rider.

Horse #4. Vices: Free because he failed his PPE so badly at 5yo. Needs $800 shoes from a top farrier every 6 weeks. Why it’s worth it: Competed at the upper levels of eventing very successfully and reliably for 11 years.

Horse #3. Vices: Poor mover in the trot, extremely hot, needs a very kind rider. Why it’s worth it: Evented through advanced level, national champion at intermediate.

Horse #2. Vices: May rear and buck. Kicks and bites on ground. Will not go in any wash stall. Why it’s worth it: Never once dropped his rider. Evented through advanced level.

Horse #1. Vices: Incredibly spooky, poor mover in trot, chip on X-rays. Why it’s worth it: Successful and prolific advanced horse, sold and exported to a European Olympic team.

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Our horse shopping advice to you? Be a good horseman.

If the horse makes you smile every day, who cares if it’s tough to pull its mane?

If the horse takes the best care of you, who cares if it flinches trotting past a trash can? Use your inside leg.

If the horse does the job you need it to do, who cares if it needs a good farrier? They should ALL have good farriers.

If the horse saves your behind every time you don’t see a distance, who cares if it cribs on a feed tub?

Good luck, happy shopping, and for the love of unicorns, stop seeking things that don’t exist or you’ll never find it.

—Megan Moore, Verona Equestrian
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(Welcome to share, please don’t copy paste.)

29/02/2024

For my avid equestrian readers, I need to go ahead and write these. I think I could seriously help a lot of people out by supplying them with this sort of handy information.🤔🤣

We won't discuss the hardships involved in obtaining this sort of Holy Grail level of knowledge...

29/02/2024

Fascinating

Study shows that horses are capable of using a mode of communication often used by dogs. The data revealed that horses did, indeed, attempt to communicate with their handlers—or any attentive humans—seeking help in reaching the bucket.

12/02/2024

Awesome sale prices!! And even on the Shire sizes!!!

💲💲 Discounted Leather Tree Saddles Added To Website! 💲💲

👉👉👉NOTE: ALL PRICES INCLUDE ALL SHIPPING, & IMPORT FEES--PAY THE STICKER PRICE

From Dressage, Baroque, Western----in Shorty style, SHIRE size, etc.

Go have a look!!

https://hugyourhorse.com/collections/saddles-in-austria

30/01/2024

Red’s tail is a pretty good visual of how my week started. How’s your Monday been? PS I have no earthly idea how he did this. And yes- his missing was quite enthusiastic as well.

20/01/2024

Horse people- any ever used one of these systems for manure management? Any of you who are composting manure ever used it either as bedding or in a bedding mix? Exploring some new options….

Compost Systems for Farms. Find the system that meets the needs of your farm. Municipal Systems Consulting Services. Find the services that meet the

18/01/2024

Excellent blanket hanging solution. I use something similar and it works great.

Update...I have added a video in the comments...please keep in mind I (Lise) do not have the greatest videoing skills..

Thank you Sarah Duclos for this amazing idea and Jody Lavine for making it happen!! No more massive heeps of wet blankets!!!

17/01/2024

This!!! So true!

WHEN TO GIVE UP BEING A HORSEWOMAN🐴

"How do you know when to give up on being a horsewoman?"

This was a question I saw today.

I admire this person for asking because some people quietly kiss goodbye to their inner horsewoman when they face a sense of hopelessness in their situations, age, injury, and exhaustion.

My answer is that you should never give up if this is your dream. The thing that ignites interest, passion, and joy inside you.

Even if I am lucky enough to become old and frail, I will still be a horsewoman. I might only be able to look, think, and dream of horses at that stage, but I will still be a horsewoman.

It is who I am and I know it, and if you are reading this you know what I am talking about. It's a calling and you feel it.

However, I think what this person is saying is that they are lost and feeling hopeless and maybe struggling to get on with a horse. Or maybe they have had bad luck after bad luck, and the frustration and heartache have become too much.

I have advice for that.

Firstly, if you feel like this it means life is letting you know that things are not working and you need to change.

The first thing you should change is yourself. Diet, exercise and sleep are the places to start when you feel lost. Your body is this incredible system that we can let go of when life gets hard. It will amaze you how it can heal and keep adapting if you give it a chance.

Next, get some good advice and a supportive community that is all working towards being good horse people.

If you are not progressing that means you are getting some advice that is not helping you.

Really think about how the people around you are making you feel. Are you feeling guilty, like a failure, confused, nervous? If so, you might need some new people instead of no horses.

In terms of advice you follow, a common thing people do is get all "bitsy"; they try a bit of this, then a bit of that. Social media has made this worse. Horses do not respond well to this. Working well with horses is deep and beautifully layered and it is hard to grasp that in 45 second reels on social media.

Also, there are many roads to Rome when it comes to working well with horses. Each and every quality trainer or coach has found their own way to Rome. The best way to develop a sense of competence and therefore confidence with horses is to follow someone's path.

Once you learn a way it then opens you up to investigate all the other ways. But if you don't stick with someone and learn a way, you just get stuck going around and around continually searching for the shortcut.

All these things are effort and hard work but if you find the right people and good advice the horsewoman inside you will fuel your pursuits.

This is a photo of my good friend Kath and I adore her. When I met her she didn't think she was a horsewoman either but she knows it now. Kath started out learning how to re-train Standardbreds off the track, then almost 5 years ago she started her first youngster.

Since I have known Kath she has given horse after horse an education that has given them value and secured them a home and a life. She has done this by following my road to Rome and over time she has now found her own ways there.

Therefore, how do you know when to give up on being a horsewoman?

You give up only when it no longer calls you. If it still calls to you but you are stuck or going backwards, it means you need to look at yourself, look at the quality of road you are travelling and the people surrounding you. Because there is a good chance, these things need to change not who you know you truly are ❤

16/01/2024

Greetings, Small Predators!

I hope 2024 is behaving better for some of you than it is here in Florida; someone definitely should have lunged it around here. 😳😅

That being said, I know some of you poor souls are currently playing in an arctic tundra, which is, in fact, way worse since it involves cold and sNOw. 🥶

This week's comic is for you.

16/01/2024

So very true. Horse people, and anyone caring for animals who live outside have a necessary toughness. Water, food, shelter and wellness checks are constant needs- with more, not less, needed in more difficult weather. And just because you have the great barn, the heated water tanks, auto feeders or other wonderfully useful tools (which right now look very tempting to spend all my money on) you still have to go out and check. That they work and the animals are eating, drinking, pooping and staying appropriately warm and healthy. To clean and care for and make sure they are moving. Things that do make my life easier in a simple barn where weather like this lasts for weeks, not months: a plastic water or stainless steel water boiler to warm the water buckets and encourage them to drink more, 15 gal water buckets outside instead of big troughs- filled 2x per day - easy to dump and break the ice out of. Horses drink more if it’s not iced and it’s faster than breaking the thick ice off the normal water tanks. Back on Track leggings and tech shirt, long sleeve- topped with Norwegian wool base layers- expensive but worth every penny- that under my coveralls and I can move and even in minus 10 I’m warm. Often cleaning stalls my jacket comes off because I’m so warm in these layers. Alpaca socks for toasty feet. Silk scarf under wool scarf- you can tie these layers like a mask, still breath and have a warm face. Unlike the fleece it doesn’t collect the moisture from my breath. Fleece lined leather mittens, and a fleece lined wool cap with snow goggles for windy extra cold days….stay warm out there.

I’ve got a half-formed theory about horses and I’d like to let it out for a canter, so bear with me. (This means: I may not make any sense at all.) The theory is: there is some kind of weird cultural category error when it comes to horses.


I was thinking of this today as I was mucking out Tern. The two most acute senses of satisfaction I got were: the filling and arranging of many, many haynets and the sight of the muck heap as I poured my third load onto it. (I should probably explain that the filling and arranging of the haynets is because I offered to do that for the rest of the horses who are on box rest at Tern’s temporary billet. I’d like to be doing all of them but, to be brutally honest, I’m knackered after I’ve done about eight. But at least the HorseBack crew, who are kindly stabling my mare for me, will find full nets when they come into the hay barn. It’s a small thing, but it means a lot to me.)


And I started thinking, as I hefted the big nets, and pushed the full wheelbarrow, and lifted heavy water buckets - this is quite proper work. Yesterday, I wrote about having some subzero temperatures. I meant a low of minus six. The North American contingent of the red mare crew reported temperatures of MINUS FORTY-SIX DEGREES CENTIGRADE. (I don’t apologise for those shouty capital letters. It’s the least I can do. I can't even imagine such cold.)


But my impression - and I may have this wrong - is that horses are regarded as a mildly effete, whimsical hobby. There’s a slight shade of: it’s all women of a certain age, clip-clopping about, living their pony girl fantasies. I really may have this wrong. It’s just a little whiff of the zeitgeist I catch in the air. Well, I thought, clip-bloody-clop to the zeitgeist. I know I write endlessly about the love and the beauty and the joy and the Place of Peace. But I worked like a Trojan to get to that Place of Peace. I can write about it because I spent nearly ten years changing my entire self in order to make my red mare happy. And that wasn’t a matter of clicking my red slippers and eating my magic beans. It required facing all my flaws and having conversations with shame and looking fear in the whites of its eyes.


I don’t write about the stuff that all of you know, day in day out - the muck and the dung and never, ever being clean; the hay and the feed (which must constantly be monitored and adjusted and learned about); the worry about the weight or the rotation of the paddocks or the hooves, which so often seem to have something wrong with them. I don’t write about the physical work and the heavy lifting. I rarely tell the stories of the poulticing when the abscesses come or the endless discussions about how to keep the water running (and the attendant frets over the possibility of impaction colic) or the bright fear that comes when there is a cut, because the terror of infection is always lurking in the back of the mind. I don’t think I tell the stories of sitting bolt upright at three in the morning because one of the mares isn’t quite right, and the doom-demons come and tell me tales of death and disaster.


I don’t tell those stories because you’d all lose the will to live. And I also don’t tell them because those of you with horses know them, off by heart. They are your stories, and you live them.


The pony girls - and the pony boys too - aren’t just flibbertigibbets, gossiping at the yard, doing elaborate plaiting, spending fortunes on matching bandage sets. They have to be tough. We all have to dig deep for our steely core, to do that relentless painting of the Forth Bridge, because horses don’t take days off, or recognise weekends or national holidays. It’s every day and every day, and you’ve got to be dedicated and devoted and dauntless.

For some reason, I wanted to mark that. I wanted to tip my hat, to all of you, because I know what it is you do, even if most people don’t.

13/01/2024

Next week starts our Ride Better By Spring series at Pine Knoll Farm in Lexington- this series of off the horse events begins with developing body awareness through Feldenkrais with Meriah Kruse on Sat Feb 20, moves into movement awareness with Tai Chi for Riders on Feb 17 and culminates with Dynamic Acupuncture on Harmony to address identified holding patterns and issues from the previous work. The Tai Chi & Dynamic Acupuncture sessions are with me. In both the Feldenkrais and Tai Chi sessions you will leave the day with a practice that you can use to refine your body awareness, balance and fluiditiy of movement. Your horse will thank you for this investment into yourself. If you are worried about the weather we have a sign up option to be on a call list for short notice booking if available. If you want to confirm your spot you can book it directly through the link below. https://keap.page/hvc343/rbbs-signup.html

06/01/2024

If you aren’t learning all the time, you are missing out! These two fillies are 3 1/2. Today I experimented with playing at Liberty- we started with the bridge and ended with loading in the trailer (their second time ever to walk on this trailer) all with a ton of curiosity and confidence - and a few cookies. I didn’t start my other horses on the trailer at Liberty. We did it the more traditional way of “lead them on”. And they did and do. They’ve hauled thousands of miles and traveled well. Yet when I added the element of Liberty to the task today I found a hole. They weren’t so willing to play this game as the younger horses. Which means I have work to do- to truly build their confidence too. When you know better, you do better. And if you think your horse is solid- see what happens when you really give them a voice.

06/01/2024

Great deals on these fabulous saddles!!